MiCA Licence in Slovakia:
A Clearer Way Through MiCA

We define your MiCA class and service set, then shape a model that fits NBS expectations, banking requirements, and investor needs. The Slovak company—typically an s.r.o. or a.s.—is incorporated, with the initial governance structure, registered office, physical premises, and core local roles planned before the formal application is submitted.

The NBS runs a real pre-licensing meeting (predlicenčné stretnutie), and it is worth understanding what it is. There is no legal entitlement to one: the NBS decides whether to hold it, it is held in person in Bratislava, and it is not part of the formal proceedings — the regulator gives no binding view and holding a meeting implies nothing about the outcome. At least five days beforehand the NBS wants a completed questionnaire and a presentation covering the business as it stands, the intended services, the link between the model and the place of effective management in Slovakia, the client base, and the planned cross-border reach. Attendance in person is required from a member of the management body, the persons with controlling influence, and the senior people responsible for AML/CFT and ICT. The NBS states that it will generally decline the meeting where it sees a weak link to Slovakia, signs of regulatory arbitrage or licence tourism, reputational risk, or the traits of a shell company. We prepare the file and the people for exactly that examination.

The complete CASP file is built as one coherent package, including: Three-year business plan. Financial projections and own-funds evidence. Governance and fit-and-proper documentation. AML/CFT, KYC, and Travel Rule controls. Risk-management framework. ICT and operational-resilience arrangements. Proof of local substance. Outsourcing, operational, and client-asset arrangements where relevant.

The completed application is submitted to NBS with the corporate documents, policies, evidence, and translations required for the regulator-facing dossier. The formal review begins against one clear and consistent narrative rather than fragmented workstreams.

The first NBS decision is not about the merits at all: it is whether the application is complete. The NBS confirms receipt, assesses completeness, and either calls on you to supplement the file or notifies you that it is complete. Nothing else starts until that notice arrives — the 40-working-day assessment period begins only once completeness is established. We manage clarification requests, document updates, translations, and regulatory communication as one continuous process, so responses stay consistent across the business model, governance, AML, risk, technology, and substance.

The statutory assessment period is 40 working days from the completeness notice. Within it the NBS may request further information, and the clock is suspended until you answer; it then decides to grant or refuse and notifies you of the decision. There is no conditional or in-principle approval stage in this regime — the outcome is an authorisation or a refusal. The NBS says plainly that the overall length cannot be generalised: it turns on the quality and formal correctness of the file and on how quickly the applicant closes what the regulator points at. It also warns publicly against third parties promising a licence in unrealistic timeframes — naming “within three months” as the example — because such promises ignore the depth of the substantive assessment it performs.

The remaining readiness work closes here: key people finalised, systems and controls tested, reporting flows rehearsed, and the substance framework made ready for supervision on site — the NBS expects real premises it can visit, key staff in Slovakia genuinely performing risk management, compliance and strategic decision-making, and the documentation and data held at the registered seat. After the NBS issues the CASP authorisation and passporting is activated, the business can go live from Slovakia across permitted EU markets.